A lot of my creative (or some may think “weird”) recipes come about when I am lying in bed at night and cannot sleep. This is great and all, but it is also a little bit inconvenient since it a) interrupts my sleep and b) causes me to have to get out of bed to go write my ideas down in my little notebook for fear that I will forget them by the time the morning rolls around. Despite these negative side effects of being a recipe developer by night, I would not trade in the loss of a little sleep because some of my most delicious creations have come about at 11:00 p.m. (yes, that is considered late for me- I’m old).
One of my most recent creative (er…weird?) recipes is my Twice-Baked Pizza Sweet Potatoes. You see, I happen to love both pizza and sweet potatoes. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t love pizza and sweet potatoes? But pizza and sweet potatoes combined? Yes, I went there.
Twice-Baked Pizza Sweet Potatoes
Servings: 2 as a meal or 4 as an appetizer
Ingredients
2 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed clean and pierced with a fork
1/4 yellow onion, diced
1/4 large red bell pepper, diced
5 baby bella mushrooms, sliced
3 TB sauerkraut
2 TB sliced black olives
1/3 cup pizza sauce
1/8 cup unsweetened plain almond or soy milk
1/4 tsp pizza seasoning
1 slice of vegan cheddar “cheese” (I used Daiya brand), torn into small pieces*
*You can used the shredded variety, but I find that the slices melt the best.
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Place potatoes directly on oven rack and bake for approximately 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven and cut in half. Allow the potatoes to cool a bit.
3. While the potatoes are cooling, line a skillet with a thin layer of water. Heat the water over medium-high heat until very hot. Once hot, lower the heat to medium and add onions, peppers, and mushrooms. Cook for approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until softened.
4. Place the cooked vegetables in a medium bowl. Stir in sauerkraut, olives, pizza sauce, milk, and seasoning.
5. Scoop the majority of the sweet potato from the skins, leaving 1/4-inch of the potato in the skins.
6. Add the scooped sweet potato into the vegetable mixture. Stir until well-combined.
7. Scoop the potato and vegetable mixture back into the potato skins. Top the potatoes with vegan “cheese.”
8. Lower the heat of the oven to 350 degrees F and bake for approximately 5 to 10 minutes, or until the “cheese” has melted.
My potatoes were fairly large in size, so eating two halves was filling enough for a meal. These are perfect for lunch or dinner (they reheat well!), and would also make a great appetizer for a get-together. Because like I said, who doesn’t love anything pizza and/or sweet potato-related?
I ate my Twice-Baked Pizza Sweet Potatoes with the skin and all, but feel free to just scoop out the insides of the potato if the skin isn’t your thing. Am I the only one who thinks that it is one of the best parts?
Oh, and don’t forget to get creative with these. You can really use whatever type of pizza toppings that you like (I know for some people sauerkraut and olives may not be your thing), and these would also be fantastic with regular russet potatoes. And for those of you not following a vegan diet, feel free to swap in some regular cheese.
Let me know if you give these potatoes a try and what your favorite topping combinations are!
Lastly, don’t forget to enter my giveaway for the Better Than Vegan cookbook! You only have until this Sunday, so do not miss out!
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Ha! I do the same thing – and then I try to grab my phone sometimes without waking the husband so I can write down whatever I thought of : ) I love twice baked sweet potatoes – and this pizza spin on it sounds delicious! Happy Friday!!
Thanks Ashley!! And I’m glad I am not the only recipe developer by night ;).
I kid you not, yesterday, one of my co workers who is gluten free said “why don’t they make potato pizzas? I think pizza on a potato base would be really good, but I’ve never seen it!” haha this is perfect!
Haha, that is hilarious!! What good timing! 😉 And yes, potatoes make a fantastic “crust.”
I come up with a lot of my best blog ideas in the most inconvenient of places as well. I hate when it happens late at night, and also when it happens in the shower… then I can’t even write it down!
But these look great, and very creative 🙂
Oh gosh, the shower WOULD be bad. Luckily that has not happened to me…yet! 😉
This is the best idea ever! Two of my favorite foods combined… I love it! Don’t feel bad 11 o’clock is late for me too. 😉
Thanks Kim! It worked out well that we roomed together at HLS since neither of us were night owls ;).
Mmmm sounds delicious! I have a couple of sweet potatoes just lying around my kitchen waiting to be cooked in this recipe 🙂
I feel you on the night-time recipes. Some nights, I’ll just have a million ideas running through my head..which is great, but then it gets hard to sleep!
No kidding!! Recipe developing at night REALLY gets in the way of sleep ;).
Let me know if you try these out!
You put sauerkraut on your pizza? That sounds AMAZING!
Yes! I can’t remember where I first saw it..on somebody’s blog I think. I tried it and LOVED it!
I love the idea of adding sauerkraut! I wonder if they would do that at my normal pizza place or if that’s even an option. I really love adding artichokes to pizza so I feel like they would both have a similar pickled taste. So now, I have this great recipe and another addition to my pizzas! Wooooo!
Yes! I first tried adding sauerkraut about a year ago and I LOVED it! Every now and then I see it as an option on restaurant menus. And you are right…artichokes are an AWESOME addition to pizza!
Why or how have I never thought of this before? So genius, I’m adding it to my recipe list for next week, thanks Ashley!
Let me know if you give it a try! 🙂
It’s funny how our best ideas are usually generated at the oddest times. Whatever works though! Love this recipe!
Thanks Alex!! And yes, they are often the oddest (and sometimes most inconvenient) times. But you’re right..whatever works!
YUM! I never would have thought to put sauerkraut with sweet potato! I’ve gotta to try these out, my curiousity is getting the best of me AND they look amazing.
Thanks Ashlee!! It is so funny because I never used to like sauerkraut. It’s amazing how taste buds can change!
You’re right! This is such a creative idea. I love stuffing sweet potatoes with all kinds of goodies.
Sweet potatoes are definitely one of the best things to stuff. I love stuffing them with beans and dippy eggs, too. Oh, and stuffing them with nut butter is ALWAYS amazing!
I love making my sweet potato pizza bites- I should try making them like stuffed potatoes next time…I am laughing that you wake up at night to write things down – this happens to me while I am running and half the time I forget what I thought about but sometimes I use the notepad in my phone while I am running to write it down lol
Oh yes…recipe ideas definitely pop into my mind when I am working out. Which seems counter-productive since I probably shouldn’t be thinking about food then ;).
Mmmmm so creative! I too think of weird recipes at night and I always grab my phone and put it in the little notes section 🙂 I love the addition of sauerkraut here!
Yay for other nighttime recipe developers! 🙂 And thank you! If you haven’t tried sauerkraut on pizza yet then you definitely should!
I might be happy this concoction made it hard for you to sleep, I wouldn’t have wanted you to forget it in the morning. This sounds soo good! A combination of two of my favorites being sweet potatoes and pizza.
I am glad to hear that pizza and sweet potatoes are two of your favorites, too! You really can’t go wrong with these!
…and girl am I glad you went there. Sweet Potatoes & Pizza sound like their a match made in heaven!
They SO are! You really cannot go wrong with pizza, right? 😉
What a delicious looking recipe for me to come back to as my first post of yours I read this year 😉 Looks all kinds of delicious!
I hope you have been well and it may be a little late but Happy New Year 😉
Thanks Jan! I am so glad to see that you are back! 🙂
You have some of the most creative recipes I’ve seen on a food blog! I love both pizza and sweet potatoes too! I will definitely have to give these a go.
I agree that the Daiya slices melt the best but they are a lot richer and I can only eat a little bit. Follow Your Heart makes an awesome mozzarella block that you can shred. I highly recommend 🙂
Thanks so much! I appreciate that :). And thanks for the rec on the cheese. I will definitely have to check that out!